Culinary Diversity of India

Written by Sandip Hor

Indian cuisine ranks among the top five popular cuisines in the world. It is judged as the most diverse, the diversity in food being almost in direct proportion to the nation's diversity in geography, language, customs and culture. This notion inspired India Tourism Sydney and Australia India Travel & Tourism Council (AITTC) in partnership with Wendy Wu Tours, one of Australia's leading tour operators to India to present to a selected audience from the industry some samples of India's culinary diversity.

So on 23 November evening, one of Sydney's most elegant, waterfront Indian restaurant Manjit became the centre stage of showcasing India's culinary diversity.

Over 75 guests comprising of travel agents, airlines, hotelliers and industry personalities dominating the India- Australia tourism spectrum watched a video clipping from Saransh Goila, a celebrity chef in India, heard from B. Vanlalvawna Indian Consul General Sydney, Kanchan Kurkeja Director India Tourism Sydney and Laura Cuthbert from Wendy Wu Tours, learnt about Indian food experience from journalist Fiona Caulfield and traditional Indian cuisine from celebrity chef Sandeep Chatterjee and picked up knowlegde on modern trends in Indian eats from Manjit's chef de cuisine, Varun Gujral while tickling taste buds with several dishes from various regions of India, specially prepared for the evening.

According to AITTC Chairman Sandip Hor, the idea behind this initiative is simple and straight forward. Its to pass on enhanced knowledge about Indian cuisine and to motivate Australians, who love Indian food like rest of the world does, to visit India and experience a pleasing encounter with variety of food while savouring others touristic charms of the vast nation.

The goal of AITTC is to facilitate growth in bilateral tourism. As a part of their Know India Better program, the organisation in partnership with India Tourism has earlier hosted similar events specifically focussed on Festivals, Wildlife, Yoga and Medical Tourism in India.